Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: Bleeding Through

March 15, 2006

With one of the best-reviewed releases so far in 2006 (The Truth), sold-out shows across the country and a confirmed stint on the next edition of Ozzfest, Bleeding Through has quickly emerged as one of the year’s biggest success stories in metal. Greg Maki and Jeff Maki of Live-Metal.net recently caught up with guitarist Brian Leppke backstage at the Theater of the Living Arts in Philadelphia during Bleeding Through’s headlining tour with Every Time I Die, Between the Buried and Me, and Haste the Day.

Live-Metal: It must be a pretty exciting time for Bleeding Through. The reaction to the new album has been amazing.

Brian Leppke: Yeah, this tour has been great so far.

What do you do with all the praise and playing to a packed house every night? How do you keep it all in perspective?

Seriously, it still hasn’t even hit me yet. It still just feels like playing shows like we’ve been playing for five years now. We see a sold-out crowd of 1,000 people, and I still can’t comprehend that they’re here for us. It’s weird. I just try to stay as close to earth as I can.

So you don’t feel any more pressure right now?

I do, actually. Every time you headline a tour there’s more pressure. There’s always going to be kids that leave for opening bands. You want to make the tour as good as you can for the bands you bring on tour. That’s the biggest part, and that’s the biggest pressure, I think.

How’s it going so far on this tour?

It’s going really good. Every band has been awesome.

Did you approach the writing and recording of the new album differently than the others?

Well, we had a lot more time to write and record this album. With This Is Love, This Is Murderous, we had about two weeks to write it and two weeks to record it. I think the album definitely suffered from that. As far as songwriting, we did the same as we always do. Start with guitar riffs, building on that. I think with the time in between albums, like three and half years or so, we all grew musically, and when we all came back to write the record I think it helped the record out. I think it kind of made it sound not as metalcore.

It definitely moves in a more metal direction.

Yeah, we tried to go for a more American metal approach as opposed to Swedish as a lot of bands do.

You had Rob Caggiano produce the new album. What did he bring to it?

He had a lot of good ideas. As far as song structure, that was the main thing that he brought to the table. We already had the songs written when he came, so it was kind of, “Oh, let’s another chorus here, another chorus there.” We were kind of reluctant at first to have any ideas or change our songs. It was like, “Oh, we’re not going to do that.” He’s like, “Just try it.” We’re like, “Alright.” And we tried it, and it was awesome. He had a lot of good ideas.

Was it the band’s idea to add more singing and melody?

Yeah. I think as we get older, I know some people in the band listen to less and less metal. They listen to more mellow stuff because we play metal every night. So I think that kind of influenced the album.

Yeah, like “Line in the Sand.” That’s a big departure.

Yeah, all singing.

Do you play that live?

We do every once in a while.

How has that gone over?

It’s gone good. I think it’s one of those songs where it’s going to take a while to catch on. Like “On Wings of Lead” on the last album, we didn’t play that for a while, and now we play it last every night because that’s kids’ favorite song.

Who did the solo [on “Line in the Sand”]?

That was Rob. You can tell. It’s an awesome solo.

Do you ever have the urge just to kind of let loose and shred?

Yeah. I’m not that good though. He’s just the best guitar player I’ve ever seen. I think it’s kind of his signature on the album.

So about the album title, what is the “truth”?

It’s just kind of doing the sound for us and we’re putting everything on the table. We feel it’s the best effort we can give, the truth for us. It’s what we are.

I was wondering if we can read anything into the fact that the title track is instrumental.

Yeah. That’s kind of [vocalist] Brandan [Schieppati]’s deal. But, yeah, it’s kind of ironic because the truth is you have nothing to say. I guess that’s true, for the most part.

I saw the [“Kill to Believe”] video the other day. Who came up with the concept for that?

We all did. We took a bunch of treatments from a bunch of directors, and everything was really whack. It was like, “We’re going to dress you up as vampires. Marta’s going to be in a bondage outfit.” We’re like, “No. We’re not going to do that.” So House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects are some of our favorite movies, so we kind of wanted to go with the theme of that. We didn’t want a video that was in a warehouse with a shaky camera like everybody else.

It’s fun to see a video that tells a story. It’s like a short film.

Yeah, and we left it open at the end. I think we’re going to kind of make a short movie out of it.

Cool. So definitely plans for more videos?

Yeah, yeah.

What about the pictures of the band members in the CD booklet? Where did that come from?

That was … I don’t know. We hired these dudes to do the layout, and that was their idea. When we first heard about it they were like, “We’re going to have you with your shirts off, and we’re going to put meat on you.” We’re like, “What the hell?” The whole thing with the layout, we wanted just a black and white layout, kind of simple, like Johnny Cash, kind of raw. Because everything right now is like skulls and blood. We just wanted to do something different. I don’t know if it really has anything to do with the lyrics.

You’ve played Ozzfest, the Warped Tour, the Headbangers Ball tour, tours with really different kinds of crowds. Do you feel like you’ve been accepted by all the different crowds?

Yeah, every tour we’ve done has been awesome. We’ve toured with everybody from AFI to Cradle of Filth and Chimaira. So every tour has been good for us. I think we can get away with that because we have different parts in our songs.

How hard is it to get fired up to play a show at nine o’clock in the morning?

Oh, on Ozzfest? That sucked, man. I don’t know if I ever got fired up at nine in the morning. But I think just the fact of there being thousands of kids there that early, coming there to see your band, that was an inspiration. Luckily this year we got a set spot every day that’s later in the day.

Are you looking forward to another summer on Ozzfest?

Yeah. It was probably one of the most boring summers of my life, honestly. But it was rad. How many times can you say we toured with Judas Priest and Black Sabbath?

Is there anyone on this year’s tour that you’re looking forward to seeing?

Ozzy’s playing. Black Label Society, I like Black Label Society. I like System of a Down, I guess. Nobody really that cool is playing this year. They were talking about getting Sepultura with the original lineup. That would’ve been awesome.

If you could tour with any band, past or present, who would it be?

Pantera. And now it will never happen. That band is incredible, how they feed off each other and how they write music.

Have you met them?

We met Vinnie and we met Dimebag a long time ago. We went to their strip club in Dallas. That was cool.

Have you incorporated the keyboards from the beginning?

Yeah, we’ve had keyboards on every album. But Marta is a different keyboard player than the previous albums. The problem with This Is Love, This Is Murderous with the keyboards, our keyboard player [Molly Street] quit on the tour before we recorded the album. So we had to drag her into the studio, and she kind of half-assed everything. I think the album definitely suffered from that. This time Marta actually had time to write and be part of the band.

Was it something you guys decided on to set this band apart or was it a black metal influence?

When we first wanted keyboards, we were all really into Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth, old Soilwork stuff. We just wanted to try it out.

To me, it sets you guys apart from other bands.

Especially on this album, I think it really stands out. She’s a great keyboard player.

What do you think of Marta being featured in the Revolver layout [“Hottest Chicks in Metal,” issue no. 43]?

With her nipples showing? Whatever, man. Any press is good press. That’s definitely not the picture that she picked. But obviously if there’s a partially naked picture they’re going to put it in there to sell magazines. Can’t blame ‘em.

The whole band is straight edge?

Yeah.

Was that a group decision or did you all get there individually?

We all came from the hardcore scene, and we were all straight edge before the band. It’s kind of something we did since we were young. I’ve been straight edge since I was 13.

I’ve seen lots of different versions of it. How do you define it?

Straight edge is just being drug- and alcohol-free, for me. My family got really fucked up from drugs and alcohol, so I just didn’t want to do it. I started at a young age, and I stopped at a young age. But Every Time I Die on the other hand … It’s fun touring with bands that drink sometimes, though.

You have all the stories to tell.

Yeah.

Have you ever gone on tour with a band that didn’t really get it?

The straight edge thing? Not really. They always joke around like, “You want a beer, man?”

Is there anything else you want to add? Buy the record?

Yeah, buy the record. Come to our shows.